MilesBuzz! - CompuBank to discontinue Clickrewards Program

I just received an email this morning from CompuBank stating that they are discontinuing the Clickrewards program as of February 1. The reason they gave was "a lack of interest".

I find this VERY hard to believe. I have many friends like myself, who only signed up because of the potential for collecting Clickrewards points.

What do the rest of you think?

I replied to their email and voiced my displeasure with their decision. I would encourage any of you with CompuBank accounts to send an email asking them to reconsider their decision.

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Just Do It!

I will certainly send a letter. The ClickRewards program is the primary reason I use Compubank, and I'll close the account if that feature is not available. This is really quite unfortunate.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I just sent the email voicing my complain. Looks like I have to close the CompuBank account...

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For money savings ideas & tips check & FF miles bonus for finance & auto buying check out ValueConsumer.com (http://www.valueconsumer.com)

I've sent a mail reply asking for a reconsideration.

Barring that, what's the new miles-earning strategy for those of us who refuse to pay card fees?

•Starwood's no-fee AMEX card seems to be the best deal, with its 1:1 transfer of points to miles on major airlines.
•For usage where Amex is not accepted, is the Hilton no-fee VISA card now the best? It earns 3 points per $1 charged. At 85,000 points for a domestic flight, that's less than a 1:1 transfer.

Biff,
I believe that's a 2:1 transfer raton on the Hilton VISA. 3:1 only for Hilton stays. In any case, this VISA card has a TERRIBLE transfer ratio!

Better to go with the Yahoo Visa (approx $5 for $500 spent on Gc's..i.e. 1%) or Nextcard Amazon Visa ($10 for $500 spent...i.e. 2%). They are both free.

Compubank obviously is having a conflict of interest with Clickrewards.

Recently Clickrewards began a program where you can tie-in a credit card with Clickrewards so that when you buy something from a Clickreward partner, you get extra pts. I BELIEVE THIS IS THE FIRST STEP TO GREATER THINGS TO COME.

I BELIEVE Clickrewards has reached the CORRECT conclusion that you can make more licensing money from having a Visa/Mastercard co-branded card with a MAJOR bank than crappy ole' 3%-interest-paying Compubank. I THINK THIS IS THE WAY THEY ARE HEADING. The FACT that they've broken-up with Compucrap means that they alrady have a big bank that'll offer something attractive in co-branding! WHEN THEY DO I'LL SIGN UP!

I never thought the Compubank deal was that great to begin with. THERE ARE BANKS paying 6% out there on the net vs. 3+% for Compucrap. NO WAY!

I just sent a letter of dissatisfaction, I hope everyone else will too. I will close my account as a result of the change.

[This message has been edited by Miles Man (edited 01-29-2001).]

Dinosaur Hunter,
I agree, the Hilton Visa has a bad transfer ratio. I guess I meant to say the $Spent/AirMilesReward ratio for Hilton points was 1:<1. Thanks for the Yahoo/Amazon tip, though I'll keep seeking a no-fee Visa card that can directly transfer reward points into miles for multiple airlines. The possibility of a ClickMiles Visa CREDIT card would be just the answer (even if one had to transfer miles to Starwood first to expand ClickMiles' limited airline choices).

It is definitely not due to lack of interest. Why do the lie to people? They would not even be the back they are if it were not for the ClickRewards program. Geez! And yes, when ClickRewards offers another bank, I'll defintely check it out. I was not happy with CompuBank at all (my constitutionally protected opinion, no flames please).

Timely post; thanks. I opened a CompuBank account online as a replacement for my Wingspan account. The inducement was to get the clickmiles.

I won't fund the account now and will close it.

Mike

Mike,

If you can fund it and set up a direct transfer by the end of the month you will at least get the bonus points for those activities, it's better then nothing.

Sad, I use the card often and have many friends that also use Compubank. I will close my account when I return from my next trip. I am not going to write a letter, DL has worm me out with trying to help companies stay in business for the long term.

Hallo Ladies,

Those .....es at compubank!!!

Everyone needs to close their accounts in Protest.

Spend your savings and rack up miles by the 31st, make a trip to Home Depot or Home Base, those 100.00 gift cards are a good way to get miles without too much effort.

Purchase the cards on your Compubank visa card, then use them for small purchases, you always get cash back, And if you return what you bought you get cash back.

Kiss off Compubank!!

Marvella

Like many of you, I think this news is unfortunate. Likewise, I will send them a note requesting them to reconsider. Otherwise, I will close the account because I would no longer be able to benefit from earning miles.

I hope everyone writes to them:

I would like to protest against your decision to discontinue the clickrewards program and for the choice of words in this email i.e. "for the lack of interest". The primary impetus for me to open and continue with compubank account was CLICKMILES. Just a few weeks back I had made a decision to drop by miles earning mastercard and redirect all my purchases to Compubank Visa card. If you look at my account, you would notice this. I have nothing but extreme interest in the program, if you search the web I see that many of my fellow nettors share the sentiment. I would like to indicate to you clearly that discontinuance of clickrewards would cost you my account. Automatic bill pay although valuable is not a strong enough benefit to keep my account open.

Thanks for taking the time to read...

I never got my clikrewards for opening the account. I eventually just gave up and took my money out.

I'm extremely angry at CompuBank for discontinuing its ClickRewards program at such short notice. I e-mailed them two days ago and made my feelings clear, but they have yet to reply. Also, the reason they gave ("limited interest") is utter hogwash.

This is stinks! I would venture to guess that most people came to Compubank for the clickmiles, so their excuse that there was no interest was hogwash.
I wonder if this is a sign that they are not able to turn a profit? If so, I'm taking my money elsewhere.
If anyone gets a response from Customer Service, let us know!

I spoke with a gentleman at Clickrewards this morning who manages the CompuBank account. I asked him if they were dumping CompuBank or was it the other way around. He wouldn't say it straight out but still made it clear that CompuBank was the one who pulled out of the deal and that it was likely a financial decision...I also spoke with CompuBank CS who said they had fielded many calls today on the topic. Keep it up everyone!

If they actually think we'll be as loyal to them without the Clickrewards -- they better think again. This was the ONLY thing that differentiated them from the pack of on-line banks. We all know we can do better than CompuBank's interest rates. What else do they have to offer!!!

Someone with some marketing sense needs to get in there.

Of course, the other scenerio is that they're doing so bad that they've got to cut corners...

I called and the agent had no idea what I was talking about, but said she would forward my complaint to the appropriate person. Rather untypical for Compubank, as their phone reps are usually some of the best. Maybe she was "playing dumb."

I signed up for the account and got the 20 bonus dollars, but never got around to changing my direct deposit from usabancshares.com to compubank. The reason I never did was all of the restriciotns and hold warnings that were in the lenghty terms to sign up for the account. I feared losing access to money for a few days due to their rules.

Well looks like it was a smart move on my part. Even in rural Kentucky (where I work) and Southern Illinois), I usually put 800-1000 a month on Diners and 100 on my Mastercard debit card. So the hassle wasn't really worth giving up 100 miles a month. Maybe I'll sign up for the AA Citibank card.

If you sign up for a direct transfer, which you can do on line, you still get the bonus miles as if you signed up for direct deposit. I don't remember if you got them for the date you signed up or got your signed form mailed into them, so it may be too late, but it may still be worth a few bonus miles.

I just called Compubank and emailed them as well.

I am most upset with their execuse - "lack of interest"

If there isn't any good program to replace the Clickreward, I will definitely close my accounts.

ALSO WATCH OUT:
Compubank cleared another customer's checks against my checking accounts. And they did it TWICE in one month. (because two account numbers are very similar) I have called several times to change my account number. The customer rep has been giving me horrible advice. One rep tole me that they would put a notice with my account # on every computer at the Check-Clearing department. So when they clear checks in the future, they will pay extra attention to my account. What an amazingly clever idea! How many checks do they clear a day?? Another customer rep asked me just to open another account, but he forgot to mention the second account you open has almost exact account number as your previous account with the exception of the last digit.

And for those of us who find sudden discontinuation of the ClickRewards program just what we've been praying for, Compubank has made a number of "pricing improvements" - solely for our benefit, of course.

There's a $2 sevice fee if the average balance for (non-interest bearing!) checking account falls below $250, all fees are increased, official checks are no longer free ($2.50 now), paper copies of statements are $5 each, and account closed within 90 days of activation will incur $20 fee.

Wow, Compubank, way to go...

Wow, you're right I was praying for them to get rid of click rewards, it was such a burden on my account. And the increased fees on non-interest bearing accounts is a fabulous move! I am glad to see companies finally paying attention to their customers' needs and desires. It's the little things like this that seperate them from their competition.

I'm sensing a pattern here. New fees, they cut the referral bonus in half, they eliminated ClickRewards which must have cost them money, I would have to guess that things aren't so good over at Compubank.

I am going to close my accounts with them. Could someone suggest a good on-line bank as far as a money market account is concerned. Compubank is paying around 5%, my bank in Florida pays a whopping 2 1/2%.

usabancshares.com (5% interest, no fees)

virtualbank.com (6% interest, no fees)

Dinosaur Hunter,

Thanks a million.

First Internet Bank of Indiana (FirstIB, http://www.firstib.com ) offers no-fee, no mini balance checkin account that earns 5.00%, and I really like the way they organized their bill-payment system (free of charge, as well). Their Money Market Account pays 5.96%, but charges $4.95 monthly fee if average balance is below $4,000.

National Interbank has a checking account that pays 4% and a money market acount that pays 5.65% - all with no niminum balance requirements. You can also get a $50 bonus, if you open your account with them through Gomez.com savings center.


[This message has been edited by VladdieD (edited 01-31-2001).]

Another check story: Last month I wrote a check to the USPS, but forgot to sign it, and the mailman didn't notice. I never received word from USPS that I needed to sign the check.

About a week later, the check cleared though my account - still with no signature - even the check image had no signature. Geez!

For the complete Gomez deals -
http://www.valueconsumer.com/Results.cfm?BizName=Gomez.com http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

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For money savings ideas & tips check & FF miles bonus for finance & auto buying check out ValueConsumer.com (http://www.valueconsumer.com)

Oops, one click too many...

[This message has been edited by DH (edited 01-31-2001).]

The increase in fees confirms my concern that finances are not too good at Compubank.
I'm closing my account. Even though it's FDIC insured, I don't want to put up with the headache of the FDIC taking over.
I have just a little bit of money left until a couple of things clear. After everything has cleared, I'm gone for good.
I've had a couple of other disturbing things happen at Compubank:
1) A bill pay that was never received, even though the money was taken out of my account. Compubank has NEVER responded to this complaint.
2) A deposit that was not posted until three weeks after I mailed it in.
3) An "official check" that was not received until three weeks after the money was taken out of my account.

Maybe these are all coincidences, but one has to wonder about the timing given their recent changes.

I closed my account, never received a reply. Did anyone else hear anything different from what is already posted?

I never received any E-mail notification, or any for that matter, from Compubank. Anyone else with a CB account that did not receive the notice? Well, this morning I mailed in a somewhat significant deposit, then logged on to FT for the first time in awhile. That's what I get for being away for so long!

I never received any form of notification that CompuBank was dropping from CLickRewards. It is not posted on the CompuBank or CLickRewards web sites either. In addition, I used CompuBank's BankMail to send them a message to close my account, specifically requesting confirmation. That was 2 days ago....haven't heard a thing.

I just logged in to Compubank for the fist time in a week and saw the message about clickrewards, it was in their bankmail, not sent to your regular email address, so that is why you and I didn't see the email but saw it on flyertalk first (doesnt that always happen anyway). Can't believe they did this with such little notice, add my name to the list of people removing funds and closing the account.

Don't forget to fax them to tell them how unhappy you are with the dropping of ClickRewards:

877-903-7907

If you haven't done so already, go into your preferences or whatever it's called and set the notification to your reglar e-mail when you have compubank e-mail. Else you will never know when you have e-mail with them.

Another unexpected surprise from Compubank...I tried to login to my account and found they made it "inactive" because I had no activity for 6 months. Didn't get an email or snail mail or nothing. Was told by CSR that I now have to mail in a deposit to get active again. Last time I did that it took about 3 weeks to post. Fun, fun, fun.

Hi Everyone,

I notified Compubank on January 27th that I'm closing my account. That was the day of their email notifying us of their discontinuance in Click Rewards. I still have not received my money, over $2000.00!!! I have spoken to several CSRs and the main supervisor and get told a different story (or lie) by each one. The main supervisor, a person named Aubrey, refuses to even speak to me!! I get the feeling that everyone's been closing their accounts and that there is a "run" that Compubank cannot keep up with. I bet they're going under!!

At one time, their customer service was fantastic. Now, when you call, you're on hold forever due to "a higher than normal call volume" anytime you call!

I wrote a letter of complaint to the Federal Reserve Bank. Has anyone else had any problems closing their account and getting their funds? I'd like to know. Thanks!

Neal

Clickrewards has a new partner: Brookline Bank. But, I would avoid them. I got excited when I read that you can fund your account with a credit card and called to find out if it would be charged as a purchase or cash advance. The rep told me it would be a purchase, and that there was NO MAXIMUM! I got excited, and was ready to apply for every FF credit card available and max them out. I applied, but a glitch made submitting the application impossible. I called again, spoke to another rep, and was told the first one made a mistake. ALL credit card funding is billed as a cash advance! Argh!

I transfered all the money from my MM account to my checking, and then wrote a check for all but $20.00 so a check could clear. I sent an e-mail to customer service asking them to close my MM account and credit interest to the checking account.

One week later and no response to any of the 3 e-mails I had sent the week before about ending clickrewards and a tax question.

So today, it was a call to Compubank. They were very nice on the phone, the CS agent did not know how to close an account and credit interest. We worked together for 10 minutes and all was well.

The CSR said he was dissapointed the ClickRewards program was no longer a part of the bank, as he used it as well. I asked if a lot of people had closed their accounts, and he said, not a huge amount, but enough that the bank is aware of a customer loss.

I tried to close my account by e-mail since feb 4,2001: no luck. will try to fax or call to close account http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Kodiak Bear- I sent an email to close my acct after hearing about CR ending, I received an email stating that I must call to close my acct as they can't do it via email, the number they gave is 1-888-479-9292 Hope this Helps http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

JRF: They are always very nice to me when I call. It always seems as if I'm making progress too. But nothing happens! Have you received a check from Compubank yet or have the funds been wire transfered to another account? Until that happens, don't take anything for granted. This bank, which at one time had great CS is now very bad news.

ASCJSTEP: They told me just the opposite. I called to cancel my account. They said I had to send a "bank mail." I did in which case it got lost in the shuffle. I was told,
"we've been receiving tons of bank mails."

Neal

I called to cancel my account over 2 weeks ago, I was told to send a bankmail, which I did. Didn't hear back within 5 business days, so i sent another, and called again. Was told "closing an account takes 10 days." So, since my paypal account was linked to my CB acct, I added the entire contents of the CB acct to my paypal, which came through in 2 business days. So, I have my money, and I'm having paypal send it to my other (credit union) account. So, bottom line, My money's safe, and compubank can keep the 3c interest or whatever they owe me. I am done with them.

I have been having problems too. I sent them a bank mail on January 31. When the account was still open on February 6, I called Compubank and requested it be closed as I had stated in my bank mail. The rep pulled the bank mail up and admitted it was overlooked. He said he would get it taken care of. The account was deactivated on-line the next day, but still no check. I called again today and was told it takes 7-10 Business days to get the check. Its been 7 days already....we'll see if I get my money by the end of next week.

Never close a bank account that has more then a few pennies in it. Write a check into another account, ATM or whatever, but if you are banking online leave a couple of pennies in it when you close it and you never have to worry about waiting for the money.

Looked today and my MM account is closed,and interest was credited to my checking account. As soon as 1 visa transaction clears, I will write a check so the balance will be zero.

They accepted my bank mail and phone call as enough to close the MM account. If I have a problem with closing the checking account, my fallback with be the FDIC site which I think takes complaints about member banks.

Many good things come to an end, and CompUBank is one of them. It was good while it lasted and I probably got 10K miles out of them.

I, too, sent a bankmail to close the account (about 2 weeks ago), and haven't heard anything. Fortunately, I had written a check for the balance in the account, so all they owe me is a little bit of accrued interest.

I'll follow up with a phone call.

I have a friend who signed up with Compubank purely in order to get clickmiles, and they cancelled the Clickrewards association before the account opening had gone through! She's closing the account again, of course.

I never signed up with Compubank because they refuse to allow anyone to sign up who isn't a US Citizen.

It's a very interesting phenomenon: Every "bricks-and-mortar" US financial institution that I've asked will open accounts for non-US citizens.

However, every one of these little upstart internet banks that I've come across refuse point blank to process anyone who doesn't have a US SSN.

If you want to email the President and CEO of Compubank directly, his email is fgoldberg@compubank.com .